May, 2012
Farewell, Book Two… and Hello Africa!
Today I head to Africa for two and a half weeks. There’s not much I can coherently say about this, because if I try to describe how excited I am I end up just running around in circles until I collide with the wall. Suffice it to say: I’m psyched.
A lot has been going on lately—so much so that I haven’t even had time to pay attention to the Africa trip. Prepping for BEA in June, where SKYLARK is one of five YA Buzz Books, has been awesome. I’ve been getting my first few out and out fan email for SKYLARK, which is even MORE nuts. Trying to set up guest posts and interviews and giveaways for the months leading up to SKYLARK’s release is entirely new territory for me. My spectacularly awesome writing partner, Amie Kaufman, and I, have finished our second round of revisions on THESE BROKEN STARS.
And sitting pretty at the top of the list, one of the hardest things I’ve ever done: finishing the sequel to SKYLARK. (Read more…)
The Kindness Project: The Cost of Kindness
About The Kindness Project:
Too often kindness is relegated to a random act performed only when we’re feeling good. But an even greater kindness (to ourselves and others) occurs when we reach out even when we aren’t feeling entirely whole . It’s not easy, and no one is perfect. But we’ve decided it’s not impossible to brighten the world one smile, one kind word, one blog post at a time. To that end, a few of us writers have established The Kindness Project, starting with a series of inspirational posts.
The Cost of Kindness
I think that childhood often teaches us to be cruel. When you’re a kid, kindness is rarely rewarded, not in reality. And you’re too inwardly focused to understand the impact you have on others.
When I was in middle school I was in a specific track of classes that contained the “smart kids.” The rest of the school were the self-proclaimed “dumb kids.” And the dumb kids hated the smart kids. I remember reading during lunch one day when a group of “dumb kids” came over and took my book, which was about dragons, and made fun of me for it. (Read more…)